/*
 * Copyright 2008 - 2010 Lars Heuer (heuer[at]semagia.com). All rights reserved.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */
package com.semagia.atomico.dm;

/**
 * Represents an author.
 * 
 * The name of the author is required, all other properties are optional.
 * 
 * @author Lars Heuer (heuer[at]semagia.com) <a href="http://www.semagia.com/">Semagia</a>
 */
public interface IAuthor {

    /**
     * Returns the author's name never {@code null}.
     *
     * @return The author's name never {@code null}.
     */
    public String getName();

    /**
     * Returns the author's e-mail address or {@code null}.
     *
     * @return The author's e-mail address or {@code null}.
     */
    public String getEmail();

    /**
     * Returns the author's (absolute) IRI or {@code null}.
     *
     * @return The author's (absolute) IRI or {@code null}.
     */
    public String getIRI();

}
